Black Fire and Molten Silver
by ArashinoKasei
Summary: Uchiha Itachi has been assigned a mission to capture a certain child with special abilities. But the child looks familiar, in fact he looks almost like the one person Itachi wishes to forget but never can...
1. Part I

The trees barely rustled as two cloaked figures sped past. Kirigakure no Sato was still a day's travel away, but they had to get to the inn before the mists rolled out. Not that they had to worry about getting lost. Hoshigaki Kisame knew the terrain like the back of his shark-skinned hand. Uchiha Itachi shook his head to get his damp hair out of his eyes, and winced. He had been very rash last night, using the Sharingan on a group of rogue ninja. It was probably a good thing Kisame had intervened. The genjutsu had sapped his strength. He couldn't wait to get to the inn to rest. And no doubt Kisame couldn't either. The shark-nin hadn't had a drop of sake for days now.

A small "Tch" behind him told Kisame that his partner was mentally berating himself. He had been surprised too, at Itachi's decision to use the Sharingan. Itachi seemed slightly perturbed these days, although he would never admit to it. "Nearly there." He called. Itachi nodded, eyes screwed up against the oncoming headache.

0o0

Itachi came out of the shower, steam rising from his pale skin. The hot bath had done him some good. His headache had subsided to a persistent dull haze before his eyes. He tied up his yukata and lay on the bed. Kisame was still downstairs, emptying the sake stores of the inn. Kakuzu would throw a fit, Itachi thought, if he knew the amount of money the shark-nin spent on drink…

A commotion outside broke through his idle reverie. A first he assumed it was a drunken brawl downstairs, but it was too early for anyone to get drunk, even Kisame. He rolled off the bed and willed himself to walk to the window, which he'd left half-open. Then he heard a yell.

"Shin! Inside!"

Before he could react, a dark blur sped in through the half-open window and rocketed underneath the bed. Itachi advanced towards the bed, kunai slipping into his hands from the yukata sleeves. At the sound of muffled sobbing he stopped. It sounded like a child. He slid the kunai back in place and bent to peer under the bed, wincing at the sudden throb of his head. A pair of silver orbs glowed in the gloom. They widened at the sight of the stranger, and the sobs stopped.

"You won't hurt me?"

It was more of a statement than a question, but Itachi was too tired to bother. "Come on out." He said.

And a little boy, no more than seven years old, crawled out. His spiky black hair and dark sweat-soaked shirt reminded Itachi of another child, years ago…

"_Niisan! Let's play!" The black eyes sparkled up at him happily, arms stretched around Itachi's waist. Their mother's voice floated out, along with the smell of fresh laundry. "Your brother has a lot of homework. You can play later, Sasuke."_

_Sasuke…_

"Are you all right?" The concerned voice of the silver-eyed boy shook Itachi out of his memories. He nodded, not trusting his voice. He hadn't come across many children, since he joined the Akatsuki. Destiny had to fling one at him now of all times. And one that looked like Sasuke shrunk in the wash, for Kami's sake. With silver eyes, of course. He looked out of the window, at the fight which hadn't relented. A silver-haired girl was battling a couple of grim-looking men.

"Is that…-?"

"My sister. She's a Chuunin. And when I grow up, I'm going to be just as strong as her."

Itachi surreptitiously stowed his sweat-soaked clothes in the back of the closet, folding the cloak so the red clouds didn't show. Shin turned from the window.

"There's a slash on your hitai-ate. Did you get hit?"

The boy seemed to sense the truth. Itachi replied shortly.

"Shuriken."

It was true, after all. A shuriken, hurled by a tearful eight-year-old, whose pain-filled eyes sometimes floated before his face, accusing, pleading, questioning. Shin was satisfied, though, with his answer.

"Is that why you have a headache?"

Itachi let out a sigh. The boy was very perceptive. It was probably some bloodline limit. Normal children weren't supposed to be that way. Then again, he hadn't met too many normal children for a while. He changed the subject.

"So you're a student?"

"Yes, but I'm not good enough at taijutsu to graduate yet. I can see through genjutsu well, though."

It was just as he had thought. He was about to ask some more when the door opened and Kisame stumbled in. With a squeal of fright, Shin hid behind Itachi as the shark-nin stared in surprise. He clearly thought he was hallucinating, because he tried to laugh it off, even though his eyes kept straying back to the trembling child behind Itachi. As the raven-haired youth tried to collect his senses, he felt a small hand clutch at his.

"Please don't let him hurt me, Onii-san."


	2. Part II

Itachi reeled as if physically hit, Shin's call echoing in his mind.

"Onii-san!"

"_Niisan! Brother!"_

Itachi drew in a ragged breath and indicated with his head that Kisame should leave. Kisame shrugged and complied. Itachi-san had been acting strange for a while, and he knew better than to ask. Besides, if he began seeing little children floating around Itachi, he had clearly had more than enough to drink. Fresh air was just the cure, he thought to himself.

Itachi turned to the frightened child behind him, trying hard to make his smile look less of a grimace.

"He's gone. He won't hurt you, Sasu…Shin."

The boy's eyes showed that he had caught the slip, but wisely did not pursue it. Itachi was saved further embarrassment by the noise of someone opening the window. It was the silver-haired girl from the fight.

"Is it a family trait to be jumping into other's rooms through windows?" Itachi muttered to himself. But Shin caught it. "No, Oniisan, we're staying in the next room. I just got in the wrong window."

Before Itachi could reply, the girl had entered. She froze as she saw the strange, albeit handsome, youth with Shin. She turned to face them, kunai appearing in both hands. To her surprise, Shin stepped in between.

"Nee-san, no."

Itachi was astonished at the readiness with which she lowered her kunai. She seemed to trust the child implicitly, and curiously enough, he didn't feel anything odd about it. It was as if the boy knew the truth. This is a very disturbing ability, he thought to himself. The girl had been looking around the room, and she smiled, tense shoulders relaxing.

"I'm Yumeki. Thank you for taking care of Shin. I'm sorry he barged in on you."

She stepped towards Shin, who pulled at her sleeve.

"Nee-san, can we eat now?"

"Sure, let's go. Umm, would you care to join us?"

Itachi shook his head, and winced again.

"Iie, arigatou."

"Well, in that case, we'll let you get back to, uh, resting." She said, as she noticed his tired eyes.

Shin looked at Itachi, obviously reluctant to let go of his hand, which he was still holding. Itachi willed himself to smile. It wasn't too difficult, he had the same adoring look on his face that his brother used to have, and if he pretended for a second that he hadn't wiped out that smile, Shin was very cute. He ruffled the child's hair.

"Go on, Shin, you must be hungry."

"But Oniisan, you haven't eaten. If you wake up hungry, you won't be able to get to Kirigakure quickly."

Itachi's eyes widened in shock. He hadn't mentioned where he was going, neither had he made any allusions to food. Shin plowed on, relentlessly.

"Besides, we need to travel with you. We all need our strength. Come on, Oniisan."

Yumeki exclaimed, "Shin! Don't you think that was a little…?"

Shin looked at the silver-haired girl. "Nee-san we have to go with him. Trust me."

There was something very unchildlike in his insistence. Itachi gathered his wits and attempted to speak.

"Shin, I'm afraid I can't let you come with me."

Shin's face did not flicker.

"I'll explain later, Oniisan, but why don't you eat with us? I know you're hungry."

Something told him he'd better tell the truth.

"Not now, Shin. I need to sleep."

"All right then, we'll see you at breakfast."

Shin bowed gravely, and left the room before Yumeki could say anything.

"I apologize if he offended you. Shin has unusual abilities. If he thinks our paths lie together, he's probably right. I'm sorry. De wa mata."

Itachi nodded, secretly thankful that she hadn't pressed for his name. He closed the door after her, and collapsed on the bed, trying to banish thoughts of Sasuke.

His headache had returned.

* * *

Yumeki tried to calm her breathing as she led Shin down the stairs. The stranger's presence had been almost too overpowering, his strength all too obvious. And here, in this remote place, it was sheer luck that Shin stumbled into his room. Anyone else, and Shin would probably have been crispy fried barbecue by now. Still, she thought, rather wistfully, he was very handsome. Scary, but handsome. She shook her head. Stupid. Besides, he wasn't up to much good, she was sure. She remembered the haze around him, the great lie that pervaded his very bones. He had obviously lived with that lie for a long time, so long that it had seeped into his long hair, his unfathomably deep eyes. She shook her head again, bewildered at how her thoughts refused to focus, and saw Shin staring at her. She smiled sheepishly, ruffling his hair. Sometimes it was comforting to have someone around who could see the truth without having to put it into words. They settled down to eat, and Yumeki stopped thinking about the young stranger they'd met upstairs.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the young stranger in question was sneezing. He groaned. All that medication and he had caught a cold. Kisame had returned, and asked no questions. But then he wasn't fully coherent anyway. Itachi suppressed an amused smile at his partner's drunken snoring, and sneezed again. He rolled over. Kisame would wake up hungry, and then it would be time for a hurried meal before departing. He had time to rest. A cool breeze floated in through the window, and Itachi closed his eyes.


End file.
